Mary Elizabeth Van Orman

I had one of the most ugly, complicated and unique divorce cases in the Montgomery county! Mary stood by me every step of the way. She is professional and the best in family law practice. I firstly made a bad choice picking the wrong lawyer who left me with a really bad experience. Mary corrected his... mistakes and fought for me and my kids. I never felt neglected or ignored by her. I recommend her with my eyes closed.

Mary mishandled my "slam dunk" case inappropriately charged me $32,000 and then removed herself from my case when I refused to give her what she had billed me for. $20,000 in, and 8 months later nothing had been resolved due to her own personal life and a few needed reschedules by the court. She re...fused to handle anything given to her upfront and instead would wait until the other side had filed motions, which in turn of course runs your billing up as now you have to go to court..right? Yup. Billing is all wrong. When you dispute the billing she doesn't want to deal with it for months at a time, then wants it handled immediately. If you can't handle it immediately she removes herself from your case. She is constantly turning over her staff as she claims all things mishandled are due to their incompetency. I would show up for court dates and there would be other attorneys there to handle an unapproved reschedule of my case, one was not even a family attorney. One day in court she got into a shouting match with my ex in the hallway. A screaming match to the point that the bailiff was called to separate them,not once but twice. The ultimate mess up? My ex was granted a monetary judgement against me because Mary missed 3 scheduled court dates. One of which I notified her myself of. She filed an appeal to have it removed, but then she never followed through with it. That was the main issue, absolutely no follow through with anything. In the court room their were short glimpses of the amazing attorney that I was told she was, but those glimpses were short and faded very quickly. I have filed a complaint against Mary Van Orman with the Bar. The complaint was accepted and is still in progress as it was elevated to a committee. In the end I had to spend an additional $10,000 to another attorney to rush into my case and get it completed. I did not get what I originally set out to do done as the emergency I reported in the beginning of the case was now over. It had been a year since my case was started. What a circus.

I spent over two years, close to $40K and went through 3 attorneys until I found Mary. It was an act of God, and a huge blessing that I saw her in vestibule at the Montgomery county court house during the trial of the woman that killed my oldest son by way of a DWI wreck. I witnessed Mary handing ano...ther attorney his proverbial a**, along with the client, and right away, I knew I had to retain her. I was scheduled for a mediation the next day with my ex-wife (yes, I AM a single father) but upon our lunch meeting a bit later that day, Mary insisted that, because of my grief and the ongoing trial, that there was no way I was to be at that mediation. She made phone calls to the appropriate people, and just like that, the mediation for my youngest son was put on hold, much to the dismay of my ex and her attorney! At this point, Mary hadn't asked me for a dime. I made arrangements with attorney of record to send over the remainder of the retainer to Mary's office, and hired the best family attorney I have ever had the privilege of hiring! On that note, Mary stayed with me and my family throughout the trial, which only assured me that, not only did I hire the best and brightest, but an attorney with an actual heart! How many attorneys would do that for a client? The next time we were in court, Mary made sure that my youngest son would not have to see his birth mother throughout the time we were in litigation (this was a huge boost for my son!). Upon the rescheduled mediation, my ex relinquished her rights to my son, and he has never been more well-adjusted, and more self-assured since having to be subjected to his birth mother (she had disappeared from his life years before, and my other two attorneys hadn't been able to get my son any reprieve). I'll say this about Mary; she is a bit more expensive than most family lawyers, but my son is worth every dime. She is also Board Certified specifically in family law, which is also worth the price. Most attorneys in this field also handle criminal cases, or other matters that don't necessarily carry a specialization. For these and other reasons, I highly recommend Mary Van Orman, and have referred several others to her. The title for this review is simple: Everyone has heard the term "Bringing the big guns"; I don't. I bring the "Nuclear Arsenal", which is exactly what anyone would want to have going into difficult situations where family law is concerned. Thank you Mary; you gave me my son and total peace of mind!

This lawyer treated me great throughout my child custody suit and had me thinking and firmly believing we had it in the bad and nothing to worry about. My ex made some awful claims about me that were PROVEN WRONG! On mediation day, when I refused to give him several extra days out if the month told m...e I should give it to him because we can't go to court. I asked why not and she said "Because you will lose!" I said that I was a great mother and she told me I wasn't and accused me of the things my ex lied about. She's very UNTRUSTWORTHY!!